Power Gender and Race-Critical Thinking
Answer the following seven questions about the reading and videos for the week. Write out your answers on a computer and then either upload the file or paste into the submission text box. Do not write directly into the text box because it doesn’t save your work. If you upload a file, only use doc, docx, pdf, or jpg.
1. Foucault argues that power relations are everywhere and form an important background context for our lives. If he’s right, then power also circulates within the university. What kind of power is exercised through this class and critical thinking in general?
2. In Discipline and Punish, Foucault makes the case that the surveillance and control systems found in prisons have their origins in 17th century Europe. In order to prevent the spread of the plague, cities prevented people from leaving their homes and monitored the entire populace for evidence of sickness and compliance with the lockdown. (Sound familiar?) In what ways might Foucault think that the response to the COVID-19 epidemic increases state power?
3. What is the difference between sex and gender? Why would someone think that neither one is a binary?
4. What is “the patriarchy?” How could you subvert the patriarchy? Should people subvert the patriarchy?
5. Explain what it means to be racist. (Don’t just look it up – think about it!) Is everyone, in some sense, racist, or does this term apply only to some people? Are you racist according to your understanding?
6. One hundred years ago, Irish immigrants were not considered white. Today, most Irish are taken to be white. What does this shift tell us about the concept of race?
7. What determines a person’s race? Is it their own self-identity (what if someone changes their racial identity)? Physical features (what if someone says they’re white but has dark skin)? Parents (what if someone says they’re black but come from a white family)?
Chapter 10 – Tools from Rhetoric, Critical Theory, and Politics, 10.7, 10.10, and 10.11 (pp. 322-325, 332-341) I attached a copy of the text that will provide the information.
